OT: The 2026 World Cup Thread

[One-If-By-Sea]

USA onto the next round another good showing

It would be good to beat Turkey too.

 

[bormio]

Nobody in their right mind thinks the Americans can win this. But Poch is doing what Herb Brooks did. We are not playing to make the quarters, we are not playing to make the semis. We are playing to win the whole damn thing. Poch keeps telling them they can. They might just start to believe it.

 

[TommyD4207]

USA onto the next round another good showing

Did it with a bit of a rotated roster too. The Aussies aren't world beaters, but none of these teams suck.
70% possession is nothing to scoff at either.

 

[mosi's man]

There are 48 teams in the expanded roster this year, not 60.

All due respect, bur these are the best athletes in the world. If you believe in natural selection, then soccer clearly starts with the largest number of people aspiring to be great. About a billion kids grow up dreaming of playing professional soccer. They don't have to be tall, or large, or in cold climates (like hockey players), or from wealthy countries, etc. So the denominator is massive and dwarfs any other sport and right now, we are viewing the very best, the cream of a gigantic crop. It really is just math. It might be boring to many, but these are unbelievable athletes.

 

[Guts]

It would be good to beat Turkey too.

You would think they will try. They'd face the worst 3rd place team if they get the 9 pts I think

 

[TommyD4207]

You would think they will try. They'd face the worst 3rd place team if they get the 9 pts I think

Between that and goal differential they'll be right up there.

I like this group for the US tbh, these teams don't outright suck. It's better than the England Invitational group, for sure.

 

[Lavictoire]

I'm rooting for team USA and team Germany as my wife is from Germany. Watching the games I cant get over the FLOPPING! Every couple minutes after a bump or trip or contact there is a drop and rolling around in agony arms raised pleading to the heavens for justice. If the ball gets stolen from the other guy he instantly falls to ground flailing. I know for the Pats Willie McGinest might have faked an injury to give the defense a breather during that Manning/Colts drive I forget the year and game. But that's the point, it happens so rarely in the NFL that you remember it but this is an absolute joke in Soccer. Watching USA/Australia Friday after an especially embarrasing flop the announcer even said folks you have to accept this is part of the game. At least they do instant review on the fly and don't award the penalty most of the time and then the player is miraculously healed and continues to play. We need to replace doctors with soccer refs and clear out the hospitals.I will call it the game of Flopper. As a regular fan I would get tired of this foolishness real fast. They need to penalize the team somehow for excessive flopping. You get three flops per game and anthing in the final minutes better be an inury that requires removal from the game.

 

[Triumph]

Why did they list Morocco as MAR vs Scotland?

I tried following the USA vs Australia game online, but there was no game or play clock to let you know how much time was left. At least they listed the score.

A great deal of this World Cup frenzy seems to be related to the fanbases. The Scots all sang a song during their game. Other fanbases have chants. Argentina is here and the fans broke out in song at a BBQ restaurant.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

The USA wins first place in their group even if they lose their 3rd match. That allows the USA to rest players or sit guys with yellow cards.

 

[Jim Beankie]

Why did they list Morocco as MAR vs Scotland?

I tried following the USA vs Australia game online, but there was no game or play clock to let you know how much time was left. At least they listed the score.

A great deal of this World Cup frenzy seems to be related to the fanbases. The Scots all sang a song during their game. Other fanbases have chants. Argentina is here and the fans broke out in song at a BBQ restaurant.

I enjoyed watching le Maroc versus Scotland match, even though I was rooting for the Scots. The refs let them play. It was like before the rise of DPI/IC (Ty Law rules) a couple of decades ago.

 

[Bill Lee]

Scottish fans made quite an impression on our area.

Local news ran lots of stories on their fan base, featuring both their fondness for beer and their charitable acts.









I'm glad some Scotland supporters discovered a fondness for the Red Sox, presumably because they don't know much about the game and they did drink a lot of beer. Us more knowledgeable and sober fans could care less about them right about now.

 

[Bill Lee]

The tie score in soccer makes it difficult to watch...

It should always go to a sudden death...

That way if you want to see the action... you can watch the last 15 minutes.

1 Hour of running your ass off trying to score, and then a bunch of difficult free kicks... and the opposing team gets to answer.

If you cant score in 1 hr... why do you need another half hour.

Just like you, when I see a football (soccer) match I do want to change the rules, but we have to realize that's about as silly as a newbie baseball fan saying there should be no extra innings and we should have a home run derby to settle things.

Sports are just adults playing kid games, and like most kid things some aspects of it are stupid, but you just go with it because it's the overall experience that matters.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

I’ve never watched a soccer game from start to finish.

 

[Bill Lee]

More shenanigans from the Scotland supporters:

Apparently one should not name their liquor store Jobi.



Even the politicians are getting in on the act.



Sadly Scottish fan dies, yet family still attends the match, as he would have wanted them to do



Nothing lasts forever...

 

[Bill Lee]

Even Jules and Gronk are getting in on the fun:

 

[ctpatsfan77]

With TUR eliminated, the last group stage game for the US will basically be the equivalent of a final preseason NFL game.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

Scottish fans made quite an impression on our area.

Local news ran lots of stories on their fan base, featuring both their fondness for beer and their charitable acts.









I'm glad some Scotland supporters discovered a fondness for the Red Sox, presumably because they don't know much about the game and they did drink a lot of beer. Us more knowledgeable and sober fans could care less about them right about now.

We have to get blindly drunk at the Scotland games so we don't remember how bad they were.

 

[BobDigital]

I'm not much into soccer... but i do tend to watch a bit of the world cup. I am glad the US team appears in position to make some noise this year. Good showing. The 2nd half vs AUS wasn't inspiring.. but that is how it goes sometimes.. and they did hold.

But my goodness... my enjoyment for the past 1.5 games tanked HARD in the second half of game 2 once the flops starting to happen. I am glad the refs ignored some but oh my gosh.... I get it... You are down and facing elimination potentially... but damn. Hated it.

They need to do something about the rules for floppy. Also they need to fix off sides. Both of those things would make the sport much better.

I also don't like all the backwards passing i see at times... A little is fine.. but it is kind of chronic at points. Basically a have a few of the same issues i have with hockey... except for soccer they are SO SO much worse. They make the offside nitpicking in hockey look like minor things.

Here are the things i would change.

Yellow card = 2 minute Power Play
If you 'flop' you need to be subbed out for 45 minutes. If you are in SO much pain.. clearly you need to sit out for a bit. (the only exception being head to head collisions)
Offsides needs to be changed to gaining zones vs not being allowed to be behind people. Do it like hockey... For instance... trying to cause an off sides in front in the net on a corner kick should not be possible. Maybe make it so you need possession or to touch the ball before stepping foot in the goalie box. But that's all.

Something like that. I am sure soccer fans will tell me why we can't have some of these things... or how we need to change them to fit into this or that... and i'm fine with that. But i think the framework is good.

 

[Triumph]

I enjoyed watching le Maroc versus Scotland match, even though I was rooting for the Scots. The refs let them play. It was like before the rise of DPI/IC (Ty Law rules) a couple of decades ago.

Do you have any plans to watch Czechia vs New Spain?

Can Prussia win it all?

 

[Triumph]

We have to get blindly drunk at the Scotland games so we don't remember how bad they were.

The Scots drank a bar dry of all the Sam Adams lager.

True. They drank 4 times as much as the bar normally sold.